Saint of the Day: Bl. Adam of Loccum

Monk (d. ca. 1210)

His life

+ Adam was a Cistercian monk and priest in the abbey of Loccum (in what is modern-day Hanover, Germany).

+ Remembered for his strong devotion to the Mother of God, he is said to have received visions of her and two have been healed through her intercession on two separate occasions.

+ Honored as a miracle worker during his life, Blessed Adam died around the year 1210.

For prayer and reflection

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

Spiritual bonus

December 22 marks the anniversary of the death of Servant of God Isaac Thomas Hecker, the founder of the Paulist Fathers. Honored for his commitment to exploring new forms of evangelization and a defender of the rights of the Church in an age of anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States, he died in 1888. The cause for his beatification was opened in 2008.

Prayer

O God, who, seeing the human race fallen into death,
willed to redeem it by the coming of your Only Begotten Son,
grant, we pray,
that those who confess his Incarnation with humble fervor
may merit his company as their Redeemer.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Collect for December 22)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.